There's Always Something More
by Sharto
Summary: Things don't always go in one direction and you can always change who you are. This is the story of how I learned that.


**Tepig: . . .**

**Shuckle: . . .**

**Tepig: You really need to finish a story before you start a new one.**

**Me: This one's only one chapter long.**

**Shuckle: For now.**

**Me: Forever. I will not lengthen this one. Simply because there's no point.**

**Shuckle: Haven't I seen this story before?**

**Me: I'll admit that I took inspiration from another story. BUT! It's not a copy paste kind of thing. **

**Tepig: There does seem to be a big difference.**

**Tepig: He advises listening to Someone in the Dark by Michael Jackson while reading this.**

**Me: You probably should do that later. You won't be able to finish the story and the song at the same time.**

**Shuckle: You got that poem ready?**

**Me: Hopefully I can break the drought. (There's a reason it's rated M.)**

**There's Always More.**

There's always something more.

And always something less.

You'll find a bit of both in the great test.

Some days you'll be high.

As high as the sky.

Some days you'll be low.

Low and slow.

But by the end of tomorrow the thing can change.

From great to bad.

From heaven to hell.

From poor to rich.

From demon to witch.

There's always a bit more.

And always a bit less.

It's you who decides at the end of the test.

Why is this happening?

The thought was panicked.

It had come up well . . . she had no way of judging time. All there had been was adrenaline. Raw adrenaline pounding through her veins to drive her faster.

But now the adrenaline was gone. She had nowhere to run to now. No way to escape the golden flames that seemed to pursue her. Now the only thing to distract her from impending death was her aching muscles. And maybe him. She'd only just met him while running for her life though.

Why was it just the two of them?

She had been running with all the other forest Pokémon (except the flying ones) when she did exactly what she would have done in some corny story.

She tripped.

It probably wasn't that hard to do, what with how many were running in a panic, but still. She had gotten up obviously. Not quickly though.

In fact by the time she had gotten onto her paws she was the only one still there. It was a bit cowardly of them but she couldn't really blame them for not saving . . . her.

She'd never been friends with any of them and it was annoying to constantly bump into them when you were running for your life, but it was a lot better than being lost and having to run for your life.

She hadn't taken a way that was completely wrong. The path only branched out at forty degrees. About halfway between then and now she had met the Umbreon. They weren't able to talk while they were running but now there was no more running.

The path had led them to a dip in the ground. The area around this dip (which was about thirty feet deep) was giving off the orange glow of fire. There was nowhere for them to go. So here they were.

They were standing still until Leafeon saw something that filled her with hope.

"Water!" She cried out her voice hoarse from all the smoke. "Come on."

They quickly went down toward it. Three feet before the water began was covered in rocks, opposed to the grass around it. The Umbreon stopped when he was on the rocks for some reason. Leafeon kept going but did turn around to call to him.

"Come on!"

"It's-"

"This is the only place we can survive."

"But it-"

"As long as we stay here we'll –'

"HEY!"

Leafeon was surprised by the Umbreon's outburst and quickly fell silent.

Yelling seemed to take a lot of his energy and his next words were soft. If the only other sound wasn't the soft crackling of the distant fire she wouldn't have heard him. They carried plenty of weight though.

"It's not big enough."

Leafeon's heart seemed to clench up on her.

"What?" She asked him terror in her voice.

"Even if it could save us from the heat the fire's still going to replace the oxygen with carbon dioxide. And neither of us can breathe that." Umbreon explained.

Her legs seemed to fail her as she slumped to the ground. The Umbreon walked over and sat down beside her.

The fire was at the top of the dip now and it was illuminating everything with an orange glow. It was eerie to not see any shadows.

"Why is this happening to us?" The Umbreon sighed quietly.

There was a moment of silence before Leafeon replied; surprising herself. "No. You mean why is this happening to you. I know exactly why it's happening to me."

"Why would that be?" The Umbreon asked.

Leafeon didn't answer but he continued on. "It will help keep your mind off the fire. And I'll give you my backstory."

". . . Alright." Leafeon conceded. It wasn't going to hurt her anymore anyways.

"I've been in this forest for years. As long as I can remember. I don't remember my parents at all. And . . ." She started. "I'm the best Pokemon from the forest to put here."

"All I'm good at is hiding from, stealing from, and tricking others. I can't hunt at all. I don't look for berries. Nothing to help myself."

She was pouring out everything she refused to think about herself. There were even tears coming into her eyes. It felt strangely comforting.

"It's probably a good thing I'm here." She finished her voice cracking at the end.

Umbreon was silent for a while allowing Leafeon to regain he composure.

"What about you?" She finally asked.

The Umbreon took a deep breath before saying. "My name's Soul. This is actually my second day here. The place the rest of them are going to is . . . where my old home is."

"That must suck." Leafeon said.

"Yeah. It was time for me to move out though. The den was starting to get cramped with six of us and I was the right age. It was me, my parents, my two brothers, and my baby sister. Cutest thing I'll ever see." He said sadly. "My parents actually told me to come here. I just hope they don't beat themselves up for it too much."

Why did he have to be here? Leafeon thought sadly. He was the one with a family. He didn't steal from others. The exact opposite of her.

"You shouldn't be here." She said sadly.

"And neither should you." Soul replied.

Now she was confused. Didn't he hear her talk about stealing?

He seemed to notice her confusion though and explained. "You won't always be bad and I won't always be good. It's not fair to judge someone until you know the final result."

Leafeon couldn't believe it. "Yeah . . . right.

"You don't believe me? I'm willing to bet that if the water was wide enough to save just one of us you wouldn't go to the center." Soul said with a small smile.

Why would he think that? Leafeon wondered.

Once more he seemed to pick up on her thoughts. "You didn't give excuses for your faults. That says a lot."

Leafeon couldn't find anything to say to that. She did say something about a different topic; just to keep herself distracted from the nearing flames.

"If the water could save one of us though couldn't we just swim out and put our heads together? There's no way it would only save one."

"Maybe," Soul said. "But I still wouldn't be able to. I'm afraid of getting my paws wet."

It was a few seconds afterwards that Leafeon realized that the flames were as close as they could be.

It was sending flickering waves of yellow and orange into the pitch black sky. It had burned out the grass and now had to take oxygen from the air. It was coming soon . . .

"I guess it's here." Soul said calmly though his eyes were starting to water.

Leafeon couldn't stare at it like him. She had to close her eyes.

Her body began to feel odd and she opened her eyes. Her vision had become fuzzy. She was losing oxygen.

It won't be long until . . . yes . . . there it is.

Everything was going black. Her ears were failing her. She couldn't even smell the smoke that permeated the air.

And then it was gone. No feeling, no thoughts, nothing.

She couldn't feel the ground. Why should she?

But why did she feel . . .wet.?

Why did she feel anything at all?

Was she? Yes! She was breathing!

And then vision came back to her. Slowly of course.

Starting out fuzzy and then she could make out her surroundings.

After a few minutes she could move.

She was still in the dip. But now she was in the water.

Leafeon's first thought was. I'm alive.

She couldn't understand why or how but it was obvious she was alive.

When she was finally able to accept that she was indeed alive she had to find an outlet for her happiness. So she splashed around in the water. Diving under it and wondering how her head had stayed above it.

There was just too much going through her head to organize. Until one thought hit her.

Where's Soul?

She looked around. There was nothing else in the water. But at the shore, darker than the charred ground, was something black. And yellow.

Leafeon didn't give it another look until she reached the shore. She was certain she couldn't continue if she did.

Once she got to the shore though there was nothing to stop her. She finally looked at him, and instantly felt her insides clench up.

His fur was burnt off in places. His skin was drawn tightly around his bones. And there wasn't any life in him.

The tears came to her quickly.

It's always the good ones. He had the family. He had a future.

She stood like that for minutes before turning around and taking the path that had brought them here. She followed it until she came to an intersection. Then she turned and went the same direction as the other forest Pokémon.

There was no reason to stay here and besides . . .

There was something she needed to do.

She found the place the next day, she was sure of it. Mostly because she recognized some of the forest Pokémon.

It was a beautiful place. A small grove next to a small waterfall.

She couldn't focus on that though. She had a job to do.

But she didn't have a clue where it was. Fortunately she had met a local Gligar. Hopefully he knew where it was.

"Hey. Do you know where I can find Soul's parents?" She asked him.

"Yeah." He said before telling her.

She thanked him and would have turned but he decided to ask her a question. "Why do you need to know anyways?"

She hadn't planned on telling him but for some reason she found herself talking. "You probably know about that fire right?" After he nodded she continued. "He saved me in it. Well I think he did anyways. Even if the water saved me from the heat I should have suffocated."

"He told you about the suffocation part didn't he?" The Gligar asked her. His voice was odd though. Like he knew exactly what she was trying to conceal.

When she answered yes he didn't show any surprise. Instead he said. "That's just like him. A good liar, but he didn't lie without a good reason."

"How was he lying?" Leafeon asked curiously.

"He told you that you wouldn't be able to breathe right?" She answered with a nod. "Well Leafeon's use photosynthesis. You were absorbing the carbon dioxide and using it just like oxygen. You couldn't really suffocate. He probably dragged you into the water to keep you from overheating. Well, pushed probably. He never liked getting his paws wet."

"How's he doing?" The Gligar asked.

It sounded like he already knew the answer so Leafeon simply lowered her head. It worked.

There was no reason to stay here so Leafeon headed the way he had pointed her.

It was a burrow in the ground.

"Hello." She called into it. "Is anybody here?"

"There was no response except for the sound of scrabbling paws. Within moments a female Eevee had come out of the burrow.

Soul's sister . . .

The little Eevee cocked her head to the side and asked. "Wut u name?"

Her innocent little voice sent daggers into Leafeon's heart. She would have answered but another voice came from inside the burrow.

"Eevee! You're not supposed to go out without one of us."

The voice came from a Flareon. He seemed to be the same age as Soul had been.

He tensed up a little when he saw Leafeon. "Eevee, get back inside." He ordered.

His eyes never left her or lost their suspicion. "Who are you?" He asked her coldly.

He wasn't the kind to trust strangers apparently.

"Leafeon." She answered.

He clearly had no intentions of giving his name. Unfortunately . . .

"Flare. Are you scaring another guest again?" A female voice said.

Soul's mother . . .

She was an Espeon.

"Hello." The Espeon said. "What brings you here?"

Three weeks later Leafeon was in her own burrow with some berries she had picked the day before.

She still remembered the day Soul had died. But now the thing that stood out clearest was that he died with his paws in the water and a small smile on his face.


End file.
